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I thought I was getting the steal of a lifetime, I picket up a non mated pair of 6 ft+ carpet pythons on craigslist in early April, $50 for the 2, a coastal and a jungle, the jungle has been pounding rats with no problems, but the coastal has not accepted anything, I'm on the verge of force feeding, but I know ball pythons regularly go off food for months at a time. is this something I should be worrying about, the snake does not appear to be losing weight and shows good muscle structure, and they are both puppy dog sweet, we even took them out to a photo shoot.

the jungle carpet

and the non eating Coastal carpet, the one I'm concerned with.

excuse the nature of the photos, there is implied nudity but the model was covered even without her hair

Can you give a little background on caging, heating etc... Also how are you feeding? are you offering in the evening? Are you pre-warming? Feeding in cage or removal and tubbing?
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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they are housed in an acrylic 100 gallon tank, that has been tipped on its front with the "top" facing forward (more ground space) ambient temp is about 80-82 in my snake room, with basking area and a warm spot by way on uth. for the first couple months I had branches for climbing but they never used them so I pulled the branches, I do feed in the evenings usually around 7-8 pm I have tried ft and live, mice to large rats, feeding in tub and in the cage, the jungle eats every time no matter what or where. the carpet turns its head from everything.

A few more follow ups.

Are they housed together?

When offering food have you tried covering the enclosure?

Have you temp gunned them to assure their temps?

I find that with any of the carpets that I have had come in that are slow to start feeding, they tend to be more secretive of snakes over all and need a bit more privacy. That was how I made the switch to feed at night and as soon as they take the food, I shut down lights. I also thaw my rodents and then warm them with water to 104 degrees and temp gun it. Remember they are not only vision enticed and scent enticed, but heat seekers as well.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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They are housed together but they were before I got them. I have not temp gunned anything I just have thermometers in the cage and throughout the room, as I have a good sized collection for a beginner. the only time I have tried feeding in complete darkness is when I tubbed them for feeding, hours later the rat had cooled off and there was no sign of interest... is 5 months without wanting to eat something I should be freaking out about for a snake of this size? from the sounds of what you are saying I need to get a temp gun, and a big dark sheet to cover the cage with for starters and go from there.
aside from the 2 carpet pythons
2.2 corn snake
0.1 albino sonoran gopher snake
0.1 albino San Diego gopher snake
0.1 sonoran gopher snake
1.0 pacific gopher snake
1.0 northwester garter snake
1.0 northern pine snake
0.1 50/50 California kingsnake
0.1 Ruthven's kingsnake
0.1 Albino California kingsnake
0.1 Mexican black kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan milk snake
1.1 columbian red tail boa
1.2 ball python
0.1 reticulated python
0.1 yellow anaconda
3.0 leopard gecko

You might try a f/t bird or chick to see if this will jump start the feeding process. Some Carpets are really fond of birds. You could even try a chicken drumstick from the store if whole chicks are unavailable. If not taken right off, pull the Jungle and leave the bird item in the cage overnight with just the Carpet. I would not recommend force feeding as this has put many snakes off fed and permanently caused them to cease feeding voluntarily. You are also taking a serious risk with permanent physical damage to the python.

Kelly

Unless you have plans to breed, I suggest housing apart. That is just my opinion.

You mention tub feeding. Personally I am against this. The additional stress it puts on the animal (no to mention it is a pain in the arse) can often lead to feeding issues. This is one major advantage to housing alone.

I have seen a lot of contributing factors to feeding issues. Temps, humidity, cage set up, cage side, visibility. The list goes on ya know. Usually when an animal isnt feeding, I look at what I am doing wrong. We have all been there, trust me.

What I would suggest is getting the one off feed set up along. Glass tanks really dont do well for morelia. Mine do ok in a rack, but they really like the security of covered sides. Temps between 80-82 are what you are shooting for, but with out the ability to temp gun, you cant check the animal itself to make sure it is good. I have 5 PE 1 temp guns in my 10x10 reptile room. I check everywhere. Alot. I probably temp gun my racks and cages three times a day and I have different check points each time. I live in Wisconsin tho where the temps can fluctuate easily and fast.

If you look over everything and decide it is good, then you can look at other options. Having tried rats, rabbits, g.pigs, hamsters, chicks, quail, ASF, gerbils, you can then move onto scenting with a few things. Oddly enough the water from a tuna can REALLY seems to induce eating. Chicken broth, or chicken juice from either fresh or FT chicken is another option. I make up broth when I make soup and save it before salt or anything else is added and freeze it for later use. Also if you are using FT (and this is where I really use the temp gun a lot) I have never ever had any of my morelia take anything under 100 degrees. This was a trick I learned with my bloods and it has translated well to my morelia.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Cindy,
Just curious about your use of warmed prey items with your Morelia and your comment about them not accepted cooler prey items. As you know, some Bloods prefer warmed prey and this seems to que a feeding response more so than anythng else next to physical contact with their bodies. I think this falls back on their feeding strategy in their natural environment.

However, I have noticed that all of my Diamonds and Jungle carpets will take room temperature prey with no issue. I would attribute this to the relatively higher percentage of lizard species in the natural diet of most Morelia sp. I just found it interesting that you had noticed a reluctance in your Morelia to take cooler prey items. Interesting topic. Thanks,

Kelly

I think a lot of it relates to their previous care. I feed frozen to all but one snake. And my goal is to get that last snake on frozen, but I dont see it happening for a while still. she is a stubborn one.

I offer room temp, or water temp when I feed. Thawing in a bucket has proven to be the most efficient for me. Drying and offering for the first month to see if they take it. If not, then I warm to the 104 degrees prior to offering. For me, since I am doing it with the short tails, it isn't a big issue!

Most of what I get is live fed since they are via rescue. I have one jungle that will hit on anything. LOL Including stuffed toys. Everything else seems to be a bit more picky. But that is the one trick no matter the species that has worked every time (except one stubborn boreno) I have had issues feeding. It works like a charm. The other thing I have found it works great on is when you can't get stuff transferred from Mice to Rats. Make the rodent soup and the scent transfers.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Is the non-feeder a male? That happens sometimes and needs no worry. That pic of it - it looks very well fed. I wouldn't force anything at this point.

The jungle looks diamond-jungle or something, but cool anyway.

You can't stop a jungle from eating if you try..

For a sizeable snake, I think carpets have the best keeping qualities. I just got into some and am surprised at how well they do. They are not as temperamental or sensitive as boas can be, and their size is not overwhelming for many of the types available. I spent hours constructing/mounting branch perches in the cage, and of course the carpets stay on the ground most of the time. But when they do perch, it is awesome to look at. Mine seem to enjoy taking a thawed food item while perched. They hang up there with their heads pointed down waiting...
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Mark

Last night I left a med ft guinea pig ( large rat size), in with it and that triggered feeding. Finally. I think it is a male